Barclays shifts focus to buyout firms for UK payments business sale – sources

Barclays plc is sounding out private equity firms about taking a majority stake in its UK merchant payments business, after overtures to trade buyers yielded muted interest, three people familiar with the matter said. The bank has been making a number of strategic shifts as Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan seeks to turn around its performance, including trying to bring in a partner with additional industry "know-how" to expand the UK payments unit, as well as put in extra capital, Reuters reported in September. Barclays initially talked to specialist payments providers about a deal, but these conversations stalled in the final weeks of 2023 as peers indicated they were not in a position to make an offer, one of the people and a fourth one said.